Flying to Washington state to look at Sequim homes is an exciting event I know.  My hope is that I can give you valuable free information on this Sequim real estate blog that will make your trip to look at Sequim homes more productive and very enjoyable.  Whether you decide to buy a home or not, Sequim welcomes you.

A Trip to See Sequim Homes

Heading Toward Sequim Homes

Flying to SeaTac is not a bad flight from just about anywhere in the U.S.  A two to three hour flight covers most of the country, and the drive from SeaTac to Sequim is two hours or more if you stop to eat.  I’ll tell you where I eat when I fly in and out of SeaTac.  Instead of getting caught in the busy I-5 traffic congestion, I prefer to stop halfway between SeaTac and Sequim in Silverdale.  There are several nice restaurants in Silverdale, including my favorite (and my daughter’s favorite), The Olive Garden.  There’s also a Red Robin, an Applebees, Silver City Restaurant and Brewery, and more Silverdale Restaurants.

Preparing to Look at Sequim Homes

I won’t list all the resources available on this site and through my many other sites.  I’ve done that elsewhere, but perhaps the best way to learn about them is to simply search this site and the links in the right hand column.  I made it my goal years ago to provide retirees moving to Sequim more free online Sequim real estate resources than any other broker by an order of magnitude, and I achieved that goal, although I’m far from done.  The resources are all online.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find all these resources I created and effectively use them to do your due diligence and find your perfect retirement home among all the Sequim homes listed for sale.  There are over 1,000 articles on this blog alone written specifically to help buyers like you on almost every aspect of buying a home in Sequim.

Enjoy Your Sequim Tour

If there is anything in advance you would like to know about Sequim or Sequim homes before you arrive, please don’t hesitate to call on me by email or phone, 360-775-5424.  And while you are here, if you would like to visit over a cup of coffee, I would thoroughly enjoy meeting you and answering your questions or just chatting about what it’s like living in Sequim.  My hope is that your search of Sequim homes will be fruitful.

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This stunning Sequim waterview home for sale is now on the market for the new year.  This home has the finest feature rich kitchen in all of Sequim.  I’ll write more about the kitchen in a later article, but for now, you can enjoy the photos and a little about the home from the MLS listing.  Click on this photo below, and you’ll be taken directly to the full listing of what I believe is the finest luxury Sequim waterview home for sale at the beginning of this new year.

Sequim Waterview Home for Sale

Sequim Waterview Home

This Sequim waterview home was designed and built for comfort with the features of the ultimate home. The kitchen is not just the most beautiful kitchen in Sequim–it is also feature rich with conveniences. The site plan and house take advantage of one of the most extraordinary water views of Sequim Bay and the Strait of Juan de Fuca with Mount Baker on the horizon.

Sequim Waterview and Mountain View

I took this photo while standing on the deck of the house, but you know how hard it is to capture a distant mountain view in a photograph, so I used my zoom lense to get Mount Baker to show up in this photo so you could get an idea of what is on the horizon.

For a viewing of this Sequim waterview custom home in a gated neighborhood overlooking Sequim Bay, email or call for an appointment.  See the listing at Sequim Waterview.

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You’re planning to buy a Sequim home.  You’ve been planning your retirement for years.  You’re just about to retire, and you want to buy your Sequim home now or at least before this next summer so that you can take advantage of prices that seem to have bottomed out and interest rates that surely are at an all time low.  The timing seems right, and so you have started the process.

The Ideal Sequim Home

You’ve probably planned many things in your career and in your life.  My question for you is, “Do you have a plan to buy your perfect Sequim home in a great location and at a fantastic price?“  Consider this.  You’ve put together some very specific plans for many things in your life.  Here are a few examples of the importance of a plan.

1. Building a retirement home requires a detailed plan.  There’s a builder and an architect, and extensive discussions, sketches and complicated plans that comply with the IBC (International Building Code).  The planning takes many months, and usually with the six months of construction, the whole process can take over a year.
2. Sailing around the world takes a plan.  There are months of planning to schedule the route, get permission to land at the right ports, and then there’s the weather, the food, and the contingency planning.
3. Successful master traders of stocks and options learn the importance of a trading plan that keeps them on track with specific rules for identifying potential stocks, for entries and exits, for managing trades and handling stop losses.
4. Successful business entrepreneurs have a plan long before they invest their life savings and open the doors to their new business.
5. NBA coaches have a plan before every game.
6. Teachers have a curriculum planned before each week of school.

Buying a Sequim home is not a time to shoot from the hip.  I strongly urge you to have a plan to buy your Sequim home.  Having spent 37 years in real estate, and having helped hundreds of clients, I can suggest an outline that might be helpful in putting together a plan that will assure your success in finding the perfect home in the best area at the lowest negotiated price.

Sequim Home Buying Plan

1. First, find a knowledgeable, experienced, and trustworthy Buyer’s Agent.   Listen, this is not an effort to sell myself right now.   Sure I’d like buyers to work with me so I can make commissions, but there is much more to this recommendation.   As a real estate lawyer I made some pretty good money because many buyers and sellers tried to do their “own thing” without sufficient knowledge or experience.   (Why do you think there are so many rich lawyers?)   A year and a half of litigation, a small wheel barrel full of money, and a lot of stress later and my clients proved to me over and over again the wisdom in finding the best and most experienced professional out there to help find that Sequim home.   He or she does NOT cost any more than the totally inexperienced or incompetent licensee who smiles nicely and smells good.   In fact, when I represent a buyer as their buyer’s agent I cost them nothing, yet I bring them a lifetime of experience.   How cool is that?   So I strongly recommend that people take advantage of the experience and negotiating power a good Realtor can bring to the table.  (more…)

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Buying a second home in Sequim is becoming more popular this year than in any previous year in my personal observations.  Why is this true, and what are the reasons people are buying a second home in Sequim?

Buying a Second Home Good Investment

Many retirees are not feeling confident that their life savings is safe in the stock market (stocks, mutual funds, ETFs) or in Gold or Silver, or convertable hybrids or other exotic instruments.  Even traditionally safe concepts like “diversification” only means spreading risk to multiple high risk investments (or less risky investments that don’t even keep up with inflation).  Everyone agrees that interest rates will go up soon, and the worst place to be when interest rates increase is in bonds.  Individual investors are not finding any happy places to park their money.  Stuart Varney, a financial expert for Fox News, said today he believes that individuals are getting out of the stock market because they’re so tired up the drastic ups and downs almost daily.  He added, “How do you know where to invest when you don’t know if Europe is going to collapse?”  So where can you invest your funds where you can be confident that you’ve made a solid investment?  For many retirees the answer to that question is buying a second home in Sequim.  Of course, that assumes you buy a home in the right location and at the right price, and with careful planning and a good buyer’s agent, you can do that.

Buying a Second Home is a Safe Haven

No one knows if we are at a Market Bottom, but I have clients buying a second home in Sequim at low prices with built in equity, and at prices that are substantially below the replacement construction costs.  Because they are buying homes that are single story, three bedroom and two bath homes, with nice floor plans and gorgeous custom kitchens, these are the homes that will be very sellable in seven to 10 years.  So it doesn’t matter if the market doesn’t start to come back for one or two years.  These clients are buying a second home for the long term, and with this strategy, they are making a good investment in a safe haven.

Buying a Second Home in Sequim is Ideal Location

Sequim has become a very popular retirement destination, and it has been voted “One of the 10 Best Places to Retire” in the U.S. by magazine articles around the country over the past 15 years.  Sequim is known as “Sunny Sequim,” because of the Blue Hole or the Rain Shadow, since it gets one-third the rainfall of Seattle, although we are only two and a half hours from Seattle.  Retirees can check off almost all of the major items they want on a retirement checklist.  And the homes and land for sale in the Sequim area give retirees so many options.

Search the entire Sequim MLS

Many of my clients are buying a second home in Sequim but not renting it out.  They like to be able to stay in their Sequim home several times a year, and they don’t want to deal with tenants.  This means they support two households, but many retirees feel more comfortable supporting two households than having their funds invested in other higher risk investments (or in low rate of return annuities).  I think buying a second home in Sequim makes sense, especially now in this market with prices as low as they are and with historically low interest rates.

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Sequim MLS The Sequim MLS shows us data for Sequim homes listed for sale and sold. If you click on this image below, you will get the enlarged version, and you’ll see a …

Search Sequim MLS Sequim MLS on your iPod – Now you can search the Sequim MLS on your iPod. For all you passionate iPod Phone and iPod Touch fans in the virtual iPod world, …

Sequim MLS on your iPod Sequim MLS on your iPod – Now you can search the Sequim MLS on your iPod. For all you passionate iPod Phone and iPod Touch fans in the virtual iPod …

Search the Sequim & Port Angeles MLS with Advanced Search Apr 10, 2011 … Search the entire Sequim MLS or Port Angeles MLS. No money has been spared to give you the most advanced cutting edge MLS search tool, …

Sequim MLS Aug 30, 2011 … The Sequim MLS shows us data for Sequim homes listed for sale and sold. If you click on this image below, you will get the enlarged version, …

Sequim Real Estate – Homes and Land Ultimate MLS Search Sep 2, 2011 … They want to be able to go online anytime of the day or night and search the entire MLS in the Sequim and Port Angeles area, but that’s not all. …

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How are Sequim homes selling as winter sets in?  Here we are going into the winter holidays starting with Thanksgiving tomorrow and then Christmas.  This is typically a slower selling season for Sequim homes and everywhere around the country as people spend time with family and settle in for the winter where they currently live.  I’ve put together some data and charted it here for your information and amusement.

Sequim Homes Sold Each Month in 2011

It’s no surprise that the total Sequim homes sold in November are only 8 (with 3 business days left in the month).  As I wrote earlier in the year, we did see a spike in sales activity in May, June, July, August, September, and October, and this is shown in the chart on the blue bars.  November drops dramatically, but this is to be expected.  While November sales drop compared to earlier months in this year, that raises the question, “How do Sequim homes sold this November compare with prior years’ sales in November?”

Sequim Homes Sold Each November Since 2004

Our peak year in homes sold in November was 2006 when 34 homes closed.  Of course, the offers were actually made in the prior month(s) as it typically takes 30 to 45 days to close.  This year’s November sales of 8 homes is the smallest number of homes sold in many years.  Part of the reason may be that buyers pulled the trigger in the summer and fall months, and the next round of buyers will be coming in the spring months. 

Sequim Homes Sold

Examining the market and Sequim homes sold is helpful in understanding the bigger market picture, but we should not conclude that there are no buyers for sellers.  There will be buyers closing on houses during December, January, and February.  Although the numbers are smaller, no seller wants to miss that one buyer that might come along during the winter months.  Sequim homes are selling even if in smaller numbers this winter.

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